Search

I was reading a new article this morning, a morbidly obese man had been involved in a serious car crash, he needed to be cut out of his car, it took 36 emergency workers, cost an estimated £20,000 and due to the length of time it took to organise put his life at risk.

When you’re big, it’s easy to just think about the day-to-day health issues, the problems with finding clothes, the mundane things. However what if the worst happened, would you want it to be worse because you’re big?

I can run now, if I need to move fast I can, when I had surgery a couple of years ago I didn’t need special equipment. I recall a time when the standard blood pressure cuff didn’t fit, it was incredibly embarrassing, I worried about sitting on chairs in case they collapsed, hearing the car suspension creak when I got in, getting on a plane and having to ask for the seat belt extension, every day was filled with feeling anxious about something that for most is never an issue.

It’s worth thinking about, being big will have health implications, but it could cost you your life or your health in more ways than you’ve probably thought about? What if you need to be lifted, cut out, or you need to make a quick get away? Is your size likely to make that more difficult?

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

As you’ll know from the last few posts I’ve had to work a bit harder to get motivated lately. I use lots of things to boost this when it gets tough going. Firstly I don’t beat myself up about feeling this way, often we’re just a bit too hard on ourselves. we focus on what we’re not doing rather than what we are doing. For me there’s just been a time of more learning about what was important and I just needed to go through it and come out the other side.

The other thing I use is looking at ‘before’ – while I was big I ignored it, of course I wasn’t really, I was though pausing my life while I wasn’t ready to do anything about it. Focusing on it now, reminds me of the way I felt about it, how unhappy I was and how hard it was to give this ‘I’m perfectly ok’ persona to the outside world. A friend found a rare photo of me from then, I don’t recognise me then, that person is well and truly gone, she’s used that time to learn and grow and become who I am today. Never be afraid to look back, for me it just rubber stamps why there is no going back – then I focus on what the work has achieved and what that has brought me, it’s so worth it.

Share this:

Like this:

So last weekend I went through a whole load of fitness tests as part of the induction at my new gym, today I saw the results and I’m a bit pleased with myself. The ones I was worried about – the press ups and sit-ups were ‘excellent’ for my age. The plank was perfectly acceptable (thanks to the yoga and pilates) and my walk test is ok and I know I can and how to do better.

My new personal trainer has left me a new regime while she’s on holiday, lots of new stuff – this is what challenges me and gets me motivated. This time around it’s the rowing machine, I’d not touched it before but I kinda like it! It’s going to take me a while to get used to all the new things and where my levels are. The really good thing is that I have three very different schedules, it’s very unlikely that I’m going to get bored and it can all then be mixed up.

I’ve signed up to a three-month challenge called ‘Get Results’ – we’ve done body fat and all the usual measurements so together with the fitness tests there’s a good line in the sand so lets see what happens.

And as its summer I’ll be walking, doing a new core class and signing up for a new yoga course. So let’s talk yoga, over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a foundation course, just to see if I wanted to continue, its great, its different to a lot of the other things I do, I am a solitary person, it gives me that, I’m focused on me, it combines the physical challenge and also brings in the head space thing I like and need.

After a few weeks of feeling a bit low and unfocused, it feels like its coming back together. I underestimate how much of an effect being active has on my body (and head), when I don’t do it there is now something missing. It often makes me think about the past – how for so long there was so much inactivity and how depressed and low I was.

So if I can get to a stage when my fitness is at a good level for my age I’m happy, if I can do it, anyone can. The one thing I hope I’ve shown is that you can do it, it’s never too late to start, it doesn’t matter how old you are, how big you are, how long you’ve done absolutely nothing, what your levels of fitness are, that there are limitations – you can do it, there’s always something you can do to get active and fit.

For me being active isn’t a phase, it’s not something with an end date, it works because its part of my life now – that’s the key to keeping the weight off!